Always The Youngest
by AdventureBound
Summary: A sweet little fic about Alan as a 4 year old. Alan get's trapped inside the hanger when the older boys loose him. ONE SHOT, Alan and Jeff story.


Switching over from writing TS fics for a short time to write TB fics, hope you all enjoy.

**Ages: ****Scott -14, ****John -12, ****Virgil -10, ****Gordon - 8, ****Alan - 4**

The characters might OOC and I may not have all the facts right, please don't flame for this reason!

Also, this is based on the movie and not the TV show.

Enjoy!

* * *

Alan was always going to be the youngest, but even if his brothers got mad at him sometimes, he didn't care; he knew they loved him just as much.

"Boys dinner!" Jeff called from their house on Tracy Island; it was a beauty of a house. Alan was only a little nipper, so he always struggled along behind the older boys.

When they all ploughed in at the table, diving into their food, Jeff looked to his eldest Scott.

"So, did you forget someone?"

"I thought Virgil was taking care of Alan!"

"Hey! I brought him last time! It's Gordon's turn."

"Hey!" Gordon cut in and was about to argue the case when Alan came toddling in to the room, clutching the big brown bear that was almost as tall as he was.

"Hey sprout!" Jeff smiled, Alan was getting to be a big boy now, walking over to him he scooped him up in his arms and held him on his hip.

"You ready for some dinner big boy?" Alan nodded a little; he didn't talk much, for a four year old.

"Okay, why don't you come sit with daddy up front?" Again Alan nodded and Jeff took him to the head of the round table, setting him down next to him in the chair and scooping some potatoes, vegetables and chopped up meat to his plate.

"You boys should really start looking out for Alan a little more, he cant keep up with you."

"But dad he just slows us down…" Scott chimed in.

"Then go slower, you know he wants to play with you guys."

"But dad we wanna go head off to the falls tomorrow, Alan can't come there!" Gordon cut in, receiving a kick from his brother John.

"Oh no boys, you are not going to the falls, I mean it!"

"But dad…"

"No butts John, I said it, end of. You know if something happened to you I'd be worried stiff, Alan's much too young and in fact you all are to be fooling around on the falls." That ended that idea.

The rest of dinner went quite quickly, Scott finished first, Gordon, John and Virgil quickly finished and they all excused themselves from the table. Alan wanted to go with, but Jeff could see they'd all run off, Alan slid off the chair, running towards where they'd gone, Jeff quickly got up and scooped the young man up into his arms.

He squealed a bit but Jeff got him calmed down again. "Hey listen, how about I read you a story and then we get you into bed?"

"Daddy…" Alan pointed in the direction of the boys, a sorry expression on his face.

"I know little man, but you know what? You don't need them! You and I can have a lot of fun doing something more interesting!"

Alan began to sniffle, still pouting and pointing in the direction of the boys. "Me want to play." He said simply, Jeff sighed; maybe he wasn't good company anymore? Kissing his sons forehead, Jeff placed him back on the ground and made him look at him.

"Okay, half an hour then bed promise?"

"Promise." Alan said sweetly, clutching his teddy bear as he ran off towards where the boys had gone. Jeff watched on, feeling his heart break a little, his little boy was growing up; soon he'd not want to be around Jeff at all.

Alan ran as fast as his little feet could carry him, he didn't know where the boys had gone but he wanted to play too. He clutched onto his bear tightly and made his way through the Tracy house corridors, unsure of where he was going or what he was doing there.

Sure he knew his home but he didn't know what all these half built machines were or what they were doing there. He'd never been to this part of the house before.

The door had been left open and Alan could hear his brothers talking as we walked further into the darkness, but closer to the light around the corner.

"Shh! Someone will hear us!" Gordon cursed John for laughing too loud.

"Just shut up and get on with Scott!" Virgil chimed in and laughed a bit more.

Just as they were adding the final touches to the whoopee balloon filled with water and tied to Brains' chair, Alan stepped around the corner.

"Boo!" He laughed childishly. Scott jumped and let go of the water balloon/whoopee and it squirted everywhere, soaking everything and causing a few electrical circuits that were on the computer next to the desk to it to short and spark.

They all stepped back a few paces and watched it spark furiously for a few moments before stopping. Scott angrily turned around.

"Stupid little boy!" He grunted.

"Where did you come from?" Gordon asked.

"Hehe BOOM!" Alan tried; he didn't understand he'd just wrecked their evil plan.

"Okay little bro, time for your bedtime!" Virgil cut in before Scott could get really angry.

"NO!" Alan squealed as Virgil tried to pick him up.

"Okay! Just don't cry!" Virgil attempted, Alan sniffled, rubbing his eyes.

"Guys let's just go, I wanna go play on the computer anyway…Come on Alan keep up." Scott said aloud and they all simply nodded, as they walked with Alan again trailing behind, Scott pushed Virgil, who pushed John who pushed Gordon.

"Last one to my rooms a rotten tomato!" They all ran off at extra high speed, forgetting everything Jeff had said to try and look out for Alan…As they did so though, Gordon being the last out, accidentally knocked the door off the doorstop and without him knowing it closed shut behind him.

Alan hadn't made it anywhere near the exit yet and now the door was closed, the lights automatically dimmed and it got even darker, Scott had took the flashlight from before back with him and even if he did know how to use it, Alan wouldn't be able to find a thing in here.

As he walked, Alan became aware that these machines were very big, each one looking like one of them scary monsters from his TV programs.

He walked around, circling and going back on himself, generally getting lost. He had no idea which way was out anymore and he was terrified, the room made all sorts of noises, more noticeably was the big machine to his right, it stretched upwards forever and it suddenly cranked loudly.

"Dada!" Alan screamed from the top of his lungs, nobody heard him in the sound proofed room, for all intents Alan should have never have been there.

It'd been an hour, Jeff had lost track of time and his promise to get Alan to bed, he'd been having a lengthy discussion with an old friend, Lady P on the phone. Finally it ended and Jeff made his way down to the boys rooms, looking around he found his boys all in Scott's room, going insane with the computer.

"Guys can you keep it down? I have to get Alan to bed, where is he?"

Each of them stopped what they were doing and looked in turn at each other; they'd thought he'd gone somewhere else after leaving the hanger.

"We thought he was with you dad…" Virgil looked to him.

"Well he's not…Obviously, boys…Where's Alan..?"

"We left him by accident down…" Gordon looked to John who finished it up. "Down near the hanger bay."

"And what were you doing near the hanger bay?"

"Well you see…" Scott tried to explain but Jeff shook his head.

"Okay boys, I've had just about enough of this, didn't any of you listen to me earlier?" There was a deafening silence and nobody breathed for the moment. "Obviously not, so this is what we're gonna do; first let's find Alan, second your ALL going to go bed and third you're ALL grounded for two weeks, no computers."

"But dad!" Scott called out angrily.

"No Scott, especially you, you're the oldest you should be looking out for him a lot more. Now enough of this let's find him."

They all split up to cover each area of the Tracy home, nobody could find him, the boys swore he'd come out of the hanger so nobody checked there, after an hour, Jeff was beginning to panic, he couldn't have gone far…Alan wouldn't leave his comfort zone surely…

Sighing, Jeff knew the only place he hadn't checked was the hanger, but the door was locked shut, for a moment he considered not bothering but something drew him to that hanger.

As the door opened, he heard the tiny sobs, he knew it immediately.

"Alan?" He called out for his youngest, but the boy just sobbed.

"Alan!" He called out again but still no response; finally he rounded the half buillt machine and saw his youngest sat under the desk, clutching his teddy for dear life. Running over Jeff got down on one knee and moved the chair.

"Hey big boy, it's only me, it's daddy…" Jeff shushed his tears and after Alan gently lifted his head from his teddy to check it really was his father, he crawled out desperately and dived into Jeff.

Sobbing his heart and soul out into his fathers chest, Alan couldn't be pride away from the older man's arms for even a second, so after contacting everyone and the boys and telling them he'd found him and to get to bed, he sat back and leaned back against another machine.

"Hey its okay baby, daddy's here…" He rubbed Alan's back up and down in slow motions. Alan was somewhat comforted by this and his sobbing turned into soft sobs and then short sniffles.

Pulling him gently back, Jeff wiped his son's tears and kissed his forehead gently. "I'm sorry buddy…Its okay now, I'm not gonna let anything hurt you." Alan gripped his father's sleeves and slowly looked up, another loud cranking sound appeared and he quickly dived into his father's chest again, burying his head.

Jeff looked up, he knew what the noise was, and he didn't realize that that's what was terrifying his son. Scooping Alan against his chest he walked around the machine slowly, talking to his youngest.

"This little puppy is one of the best machines out there, it can fly and can be used in all sorts of ways…its name…Thunderbird One…" Alan touched the hull with his bare hand and smiled to his son.

Alan hid for a moment but with a little coaxing from his father he gently placed his hand over his father's on the metal of Thunderbird One. Jeff gently smiled at him and whispered. "Maybe one day I'll let you take it for a test run."

"Bird!" Alan laughed a little and looked to his dad, clapping his tiny hands and almost dropping his bear, Jeff caught it and moved it back to his grip though, he was so proud of all of his sons, sure they fought and argued and were mean sometimes but they were kids, his kids and he cherished them dearly.

"That's right little man, now I think it's about time we got you to bed…" He laughed a little as he watched his tiny son yawn and get comfy in his arms. Jeff carried him out of the hanger, making sure the door was very much locked...

Walking down the hall he was happy to see all of his boys were in bed, sure it was early a little, but it'd do them all good to get some rest. As he turned into Alan's room he room he flicked on the night light with his foot and walked over to the young mans bed, laying him down on it and getting him into his pyjamas.

Alan was well away by this time and Jeff covered the blankets over him protectively. Watching him breathe for a long moment he realized just how much he loved him, how he'd die for this tiny man right here.

He wished Lucy was around to see them all, but somehow he figured she was anyway, in their hearts. As Jeff got up to leave, he heard a muffled noise and stopped looking back at Alan who was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, he began to roll around. He was obviously dreaming and Jeff didn't want to leave him, he felt like he was abandoning him.

Going back over he picked up the young man and again took him into his arms, walking over to a rocking chair they used but never got rid of for Alan when he was just a baby, he sat down in it and turned it to face the sunset.

Rocking Alan in his arms, Jeff too found himself falling asleep, lovingly cuddling his young man close to his heart.


End file.
